Media is consumed around the world in theaters, in the office, at home, and in a host of other venues. It is viewed on large fixed screens, on hand-held mobile devices, and on a broad range of intermediate platforms. As the number of media consumption settings and platforms increases, there is a growing demand for a given item of media content to be delivered in versions and formats appropriate to each of the intended venues and platforms where it is delivered to the consumer. Furthermore, the means of publishing and distribution have also proliferated. As a result, a given media project may demand dozens, or even over a hundred different deliverables.
Present-day media publishing workflows are time-consuming, complex, error-prone, and ad-hoc. While those involved in creating media can cope with such inefficiencies when only a small handful of versions, renditions, and consumption vehicles were required, such methods become unwieldy and too costly as deliverables for a given media project proliferate. In addition, a creative editor involved in the story-telling stage of media creation does not have the ability to express their creative choices in the downstream rendering process. The media creation and publishing pipeline is therefore in need of new approaches to enhance the content and technical quality of media deliverables, as well as to boost productivity and control costs.